We've got so many wingers, I don't see 352 as a long term option. There would be no point signing them if we're not going to play them. We could probably crowbar Evans, Ba (if he can play as an 8), Michut, and Pritchard (or maybe Diallo) in a diamond, behind a two of Simms and Stewart, but it's a bit narrow and, again, contains none of the 57 wingers we've got. Personally, I'm beginning to think that the 352 might have been Neil trying to make a point.
Well,it worked for us...we've made a half decent start.Gooch and Clarke have been very ok,and we have Roberts and Dajaku on the bench. What other wingers do we have? The problem for me has been the energy levels of Pritch and Neil to get up and down.The signings we're making seem to cover those positions.
We have started well but we've got Clarke, Roberts, Dajaku, Gooch who can play there at a push, and we've just added Bennette and potentially Diallo (who can also play there). I'd have said that's a lot for a side that hasn't been playing with wingers. We do appear to have been recruiting to play 433, or at least 4231, so, seeing as Neil was apparently not happy with the recruitment, I can't help but think that he was playing a formation that wasn't consistent with the way the club was recruiting.
When is deadline day? I thought it was today but SSN have the countdown ending tomorrow at 11.00pm. I've got another day of this?
Neil did say it wasn't his preferred system but used it to try to accommodate two similar strikers on the pitch together. I think one of the reasons we struggled in the last 20 minutes against Norwich is because we kept the two strikers on the pitch, I expected Roberts on for Simms to give us numbers in midfield and legs on the turnover.
I think that selling Pritch would be a massive mistake. We don't have anyone else in the squad that can play his role, the way he does. I'd rather see Embo go than Pritch, who gives us high intensity up front and would be a big miss if he goes.
Ah, did he? Before the events of this weekend I would have assumed that he was playing that way to accommodate those two. Maybe I'm just being too suspicious then!
Well, I'm at Ponteland International lads. Nowt happening, all quiet here apart from its ****ing raining.
Barnesy would tell you it's considerably less. Everyone just picks a number that works for their agenda I reckon. £10m will be the top end which will include clauses such as getting promoted etc. - this makes sense, Spurs want their money back at least if he's a success. But there were rumours that it was as low as £3m upfront as well. I'd expect that we're structuring all of our deals in a way that the bigger clubs get more from us if the signings are successful. My unsubstantiated guess is it was structured something like this: £3m upfront fee. £2m in installments over the next 2 years. £2.5m if we get promoted whilst he's here. £1m after he makes 50 appearances. £1m after he makes 100 appearances. £500k when he pulls on an England shirt. 20% of any profit we make on him. So Spurs are guaranteed £5m, they'll get £7m if he's a relative success, the full £10m if he smashes it and a little extra if we sell him on for more than £10m. We get a player that had previously excelled at this level (and cost Spurs £10m) for half of the price, with even less upfront. If he becomes an established Championship player then we pay them a little more and if he takes us to the Prem then we pay the maximum. In my opinion, a winger playing 100 games in the Championship is likely to be worth more than the £7m he would have cost us to that point. A winger playing in the Prem will be worth more than £9.5m and an England international worth a lot more than £10m. Given that he's only 21 as well, it represents great value and an ambitious purchase.
Yep,I understand your point. However,we have been playing with wingers....they've been pushed up and supported by midfield doubling up alongside. The task of the coach has been to convert these wingers into wing backs with a defensive duty.The problem,I think,with the recruitment has been the attacking nature,rather than,let's say, a conventional,more defensively inclined wing back.
Wouldn't disagree at all with your figures,. It just flashed up on SSN when they were showing ins and outs at every premier League club